Living Sermon: Pastor Builds Tiny House

A small house can open many doors. The months that the Rev. Rebecca Rutter spent building a 98-square-foot house gave her a chance to reflect on how one person can leave a smaller footprint on God’s earth. Rutter spent a year of “Sabbath days” teaching herself carpentry and electrical wiring to build the 14.5 x 7.5 foot home. All this while pastoring a church, raising a family, and finishing seminary. When Rutter moved to De Pere, Wisconsin to pastor New Hope United Methodist Church, the tiny house relocated too.

In 2016, Rebecca Rutter was among a group of 37 pilgrims who visited significant sites in England related to the birth of Methodism and founders John and Charles Wesley and Francis Asbury. The group saw “shepherd’s huts” similar to Rutter’s tiny house where shepherds would stay in the fields close to their flocks during lambing time.